Was World Football Just Taken Over By The Mafia?

If the bloody conflicts that punctuated Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Trilogy taught us anything, it’s that Vito Corleone was right to oppose the distribution of heroin. It’s obvious that all the money was in football match-fixing if the lasted explosive accusations from Europol are proven to have any substance. 

Through a multinational crime network that makes the organisation of Lance Armstrong’s doping gang look like a primary school bake sale, Europol has alleged there has been up to 680 suspicious games played across Europe, Africa, Asia in Central America. It’s not the first time that the ‘great game‘ has been tainted by corruption but Italy’s recent match-fixing scandal, which led led to the arrest of 14 players, officials, and underworld figures, was conveniently dismissed as a localised problem. These latest allegations will have much wider ramifications.     

It is clear to us that this is the biggest investigation ever into suspected match fixing,” said Europol chief Rob Wainwright. “It is the work of a sophisticated organised crime syndicate based in Asia and working with criminal facilitators around Europe. Match-fixing is a significant threat to football … involving a broad community of actors. Illegal profits are being made that threatens the very fabric of the game

statement from Europol concluded that, “A total of 425 match officials, club officials, players, and serious criminals, from more than 15 countries, are suspected of being involved in attempts to fix more than 380 professional football matches. The activities formed part of a sophisticated organised crime operation, which generated over €8 million in betting profits and involved over €2 million in corrupt payments to those involved in the matches.” 

Footage from one suspect match, a junior international friendly between Argentina and Bolivia, shows the Hungarian referee awarding a ridiculously soft penalty in the box in the dying moments of the match. The subsequent spot kick would earn Argentina a 1-0 win. Skip to 2:48 to view the incident.


According to the EU’s premier intelligence-sharing agency, football is in a pretty lurid and compromised place. As with cycling, should the extensive allegations uncover the necessary evidence, results from the past, present, and future will be questioned. But as The Guardian reported, it’s not a scenario that FIFA, UEFA, or England’s Football Association are ready to concede with an FA spokesman claiming, “The FA [is] not aware of any credible reports into suspicious Champions League fixtures in England, nor has any information been shared with us.” 

Could it it be possible that Europol is simply using the world’s most popular sport as a prompt for international co-operation in the fight against organised crime? It’s an outlandish thought, almost as off-the-wall as suggesting world football is run by a Singaporean crime syndicate. It’s an ugly story from which we anticipate many more twist to come. Thankfully local fans can rest assured with the knowledge that our players are among the most honest in the world (and mobsters don’t give a toss about  the A-League).

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